Among white students, 14.1 dropped out during the four-year high school period. Only Asian Americans did better, with a dropout rate of 9.6 percent.

Celebrity Dropouts

But the stories are considerably different for other ethnic groups. African Americans had a dropout rate of 36.8 percent this past year. Native Americans were at 30.0 percent, Latinos at 26.7 percent, and Pacific Islanders at 25.4 percent.

Simply put, Asian Americans notwithstanding, nonwhites are still about twice as likely to drop out of high school as Whites.